Storylines to Watch in Week 1

<p>The season kicks off tonight and there are a few things I’m keeping my eye on in week 1.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Battle of Top 5 2024 Bigs</strong></span></p> <p>Western plays Elizabethtown on Saturday at the Domino’s Tip Off Classic in Campbellsville. Not only is it a good matchup on paper but has a significant impact on the 2024 rankings as E-town’s [player_tooltip player_id="939115" first="Ayden" last="Evans"] will go head to head against the Warriors’ [player_tooltip player_id="1088829" first="Jayden" last="Miles"]. Two of the best young bigs in the state, Evans has an offer from West Virginia already and Miles is on the radar of several mid and high major D1s despite missing his freshman season after knee surgery.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="939117" first="Travis" last="Perry"]’s Scoring Barrage</strong></span></p> <p>2024 Lyon County guard [player_tooltip player_id="939117" first="Travis" last="Perry"] is quietly on track to break the all time scoring record in KHSAA history. He had a Zip Zone Classic record 49 points on Saturday so he shows no signs of slowing down in his Sophomore campaign. It’s not unreasonable to expect Travis to average 30 points per game this season and he could easily put up another 1,000+ points as a Sophomore. If he does that, it’s not a matter of if he’ll break the scoring record but when. The Lyons take on Hopkins County Central and Goodpasture Christian (Tennessee) this week.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Best Team in Louisville?</strong></span></p> <p>The 6th and 7th regions are always among the best in the state but this season they seem to be especially loaded. [player_tooltip player_id="932766" first="Gabe" last="Sisk"] and Ballard are the preseason top team in Kentucky with [player_tooltip player_id="932764" first="Kaleb" last="Glenn"] and Male right behind them in most polls. But the depth in the city is tremendous as DeSales, Manual, PRP, Trinity, Butler, Fern Creek, Evangel Christian, Jeffersontown, St. X, CAL, Eastern and Southern all have multiple players with scholarship level talent. The Derby City is bursting with talent and every night will be a battle. Should be fun to watch.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Impact Transfers</strong></span></p> <p>This offseason seemed to be busier than usual in terms of high school athletes changing addresses. Here’s just a partial list of impact players who transferred this summer: [player_tooltip player_id="1118821" first="John" last="McCrear"] and [player_tooltip player_id="801592" first="Jackson" last="Twombly"] (Woodford County), [player_tooltip player_id="1033474" first="Sam" last="Parrish"], [player_tooltip player_id="801625" first="Tanner" last="Walton"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1126607" first="Tyleik" last="Maxwell"] (GRC), [player_tooltip player_id="1215559" first="Bless" last="Kamuena"], [player_tooltip player_id="1115593" first="Ethan" last="Dunn"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1336712" first="Felix" last="De Los Santos"] (Bryan Station), [player_tooltip player_id="692942" first="Christian" last="Spalding"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1022262" first="Kyran" last="Tilley"] (Evangel), [player_tooltip player_id="932772" first="Jack" last="Edelen"] (Male) and [player_tooltip player_id="1305735" first="Tim" last="Fuller II"], [player_tooltip player_id="801598" first="Miles" last="Franklin"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1203225" first="Kaden" last="Stanton"] (Ballard). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of old faces in new places. It will be interesting to see which teams have great chemistry early this season.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>How does SB 128 Affect things?</strong></span></p> <p>While there was no shortage of transfers this season, other schools benefited from players choosing to use the extra year afforded by Senate Bill 128 and returning for a second Senior season. Players like [player_tooltip player_id="923006" first="Jevonte" last="Turner"], [player_tooltip player_id="922999" first="Dez" last="Lindsay"], [player_tooltip player_id="1201517" first="Evan" last="Frederick"], [player_tooltip player_id="1022244" first="Tony" last="Moss"], [player_tooltip player_id="1069277" first="Andrew" last="Mason"] and several others have chosen to repeat their senior season and join the class of 2022. It will be interesting to see which players benefit with new scholarships or increased recruitment in their repeat season.</p>